Inspectors Find Another Leak At Japanese Plant

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - World

October 12, 1999

TOKYO - The plant at the center of Japan's worst nuclear accident kept pumping small amounts of radiation into the air for more than a week before officials discovered it, the operator said Monday. Radioactive iodine 131 at double the legal limit was detected Friday at a ventilator opening in the building, but officials waited until Monday to turn off the exhaust fan and seal the opening. The ventilator had been left running after the Sept. 30 accident that exposed at least 49 people to radiation, according to JCO Co., which runs the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo.